Magnesium

Overview

Magnesium is one of four interchangeable alkaline minerals (alongside calcium, sodium and potassium) which work together to stabilize cells, suppress parathyroid hormone, and quiet the inflammatory cascade. The core problem is that hypothyroid cells cannot hold onto magnesium, so it falls out into the urine at the slightest stress no matter how much you eat or supplement. Magnesium binds to the ATP molecule and becomes part of it, which is why a cell that produces ATP fast retains magnesium effortlessly while a cell that does not produce ATP quickly, loses it. Once thyroid function is optimal, 400 milligrams of magnesium a day from foods like milk, fruit, coffee, meat, cheese, eggs and seafood is easy to hit without supplements. The supplements themselves can be problematic: some forms cause intestinal irritation, headaches and allergy-like reactions because of manufacturing contaminants.

Key Points

• Thyroid hormone is required for cells to retain magnesium. When you are hypothyroid, the slightest stress makes magnesium fall out of your cells and get excreted in the urine. Magnesium binds to the ATP molecule so a cell producing ATP rapidly holds onto magnesium without trouble. T3 specifically, working through ATP and carbon dioxide production, is what allows the cell to retain it. Dr. Jerry Aikawa is the researcher who established this connection, and his books are the best source on the subject.

• Magnesium participates in over 300 enzymatic reactions, out of roughly 450 total. This includes energy production, maintenance of cell structure, defence against bacteria, viruses, and fungi, restraint of excessive cell growth, glucose metabolism, suppression of fatty acid oxidation, and bone formation.

• Once thyroid is adequate, 400 milligrams a day from food is easy to reach. Milk is a generous source of magnesium. Coffee is a consistent source, smaller in absolute amount but reliable as a daily supplement to milk. Orange juice contributes a moderate amount. Meat, fish, cheese, eggs and other seafood are all good sources. Vegetarians can boil any green leaves, kale, beet greens or otherwise, for two or three minutes - the green water that comes out is highly concentrated in magnesium and calcium. With good thyroid function, a person can go two weeks or more without anywhere near the daily requirement and remain fine.

• Magnesium deficiency causes seizures, insomnia, cramps, depression and inflammation. All of these symptoms reflect a lack of energy and a failure of the cell to reach its relaxed, high-energy resting state. When the brain is fatigued and somewhat hypothyroid, it gets the equivalent of a muscle cramp, which manifests as insomnia. Active thyroid hormone, magnesium and sugar are the things that most quickly restore energy to the brain or muscles. The classical Achilles tendon test for hypothyroidism measures the speed of relaxation, not the size of the reflex, because relaxation requires restored energy.

• Magnesium supplements frequently cause intestinal inflammation and allergy-like reactions. Most forms tested produce irritation, probably involving increased histamine, nitric oxide and endotoxin absorption. Many of the manufacturing methods for magnesium carbonate and other compounds involve contaminants that can be allergenic, and many people get headaches or allergy symptoms from them. Magnesium glycinate produces fewer complaints than other forms, but no supplement is reliably free of the problem.

• Magnesium carbonate can stop cramps within minutes. Ray Peat said a doctor friend with severe uterine cramps, who normally would not consider a nutritional supplement, chewed up a chunk of magnesium carbonate and the cramps stopped completely in about five minutes. It works the way calcium works as a quieting influence, but very quickly and reliably. Ray mentioned that it was previously used in Mexico to treat traveler's diarrhea.

• Starting thyroid supplementation can produce an acute magnesium deficiency in the heart and brain. Hypothyroid people have low cell magnesium throughout the body. When they take thyroid, the skeletal muscles and bones suddenly take up magnesium from the blood, and the heart and brain can be left short. This causes tachycardia, palpitations, anxiety and other stress symptoms that look like hyperthyroidism. Taking around 100 milligrams of magnesium alongside one or two micrograms of T3 prevents this for the first few hours of the response.

• Mast cells require magnesium to retain histamine and serotonin. If the mast cell is magnesium deficient, it cannot hold onto its inflammatory contents, and it degranulates, releasing histamine, serotonin and other inflammatory and clot-promoting agents. So whatever holds magnesium inside the cell prevents inflammation. This is one of the mechanisms by which thyroid, by enabling magnesium retention, reduces inflammation systemically.

• Magnesium is one of four alkaline minerals that can substitute for each other. Calcium, magnesium, sodium and potassium all have overlapping stabilizing functions. William Frederick Koch, a parathyroid researcher, found that he could cure muscle spasms from parathyroid removal with any of these minerals, not just calcium. A diet that seems deficient in one can often be solved by the other three. Low sodium intake increases magnesium loss by raising aldosterone, so adequate salt protects magnesium.

• Magnesium can be absorbed through the skin from epsom salt baths, especially with baking soda. Salt, magnesium sulfate (epsom salts), and baking soda are all good additions to a bath. The baking soda helps the body absorb the magnesium when epsom salts are mixed with it. A combination of one pound baking soda and one pound epsom salts is a usable starting point.

Notable Quotes

"Thyroid is required to retain magnesium by cells. So when you're hypothyroid, the slightest stress makes the magnesium fall out of your cells and get lost in the urine."

[Ray Peat — Safe Supplements with Ray Peat (Generative Energy #31)]

"Magnesium stabilizes the high-energy ATP molecule, and without thyroid you can't make that very quickly."

[Ray Peat — KMUD: Mitochondria, GABA, Herbs]

"A magnesium deficiency will cause seizures, insomnia, inflammation, everything that a lack of energy leads to."

[Ray Peat — KMUD: Mitochondria, GABA, Herbs]

"All of the forms that I've experimented with, and for quite a few other people, magnesium supplements can cause intestinal inflammation or irritation."

[Ray Peat — KMUD: Antioxidant Theory and Continued War on Cancer]

"If your thyroid lets your cells retain magnesium, then 400 milligrams per day is easy to get from foods: fruit, fruit juice, milk, cheese, eggs, meat, seafood. All of those things are very good sources of magnesium."

[Ray Peat — KMUD: Antioxidant Theory and Continued War on Cancer]

"People who are the most needy of magnesium are the ones who are least capable of absorbing it and making use of it"

[Georgi Dinkov — Crucial Facts About Your Metabolism, Part 2 | Dr. Mercola Interviews Georgi Dinkov]

"Magnesium was known as the old GABA agonist before they discovered GABA directly"

[Georgi Dinkov — What You Need to Know About Estrogen and Serotonin – Interview with Georgi Dinkov]

Important Things To Consider

Loading up on magnesium does not fix the problem if your thyroid is low. If you are hypothyroid, you can take all the magnesium you want but whatever gets into your cells stays a very short time and is lost quickly. Calcium is much more straightforward to absorb and retain in a hypothyroid person, which is why hypometabolic people on various diets often end up supplementing magnesium continuously without ever resolving the deficiency.

Most magnesium supplements carry contaminants from cheap manufacturing methods. Headaches, intestinal irritation, water retention and allergy-like symptoms are common. Citrate, malate, oxide, and similar forms all have very poor uptake in the gastrointestinal tract, which is why high oral doses commonly cause diarrhoea. Most commercial magnesium supplements also contain titanium dioxide, silicon dioxide, and other unwanted excipients. Magnesium glycinate has the fewest reported issues, but any supplement form should be tested in small doses first.

Magnesium toxicity is real and can be fatal if magnesium is not being properly utilised. Without proper ATP generation to bind the magnesium, even endogenous magnesium can become toxic. Death from intravenous magnesium has happened in hospitals, since it is a central nervous system depressant and can stop the heart. Oral overdose is somewhat self-limiting because the first stages of magnesium toxicity are violent diarrhoea, so the body excretes it before it can kill.

Serum magnesium testing is essentially useless and high serum magnesium is a bad sign. Magnesium is an intracellular nutrient, so blood levels do not reflect tissue status. If serum magnesium comes back high, that usually means cells mewhere are dying and spilling their internal contents into the bloodstream. Red blood cell magnesium is better than serum, but the only truly reliable measure is intracellular tissue magnesium, which is not routinely tested.

Magnesium supplementation when starting thyroid is temporary, not permanent. The supplement helps the cells adapt during the first two or three days. Once the thyroid is working and ATP production is restored, the cells will retain magnesium from ordinary food and the supplement is no longer needed. Continuing to supplement at high doses after thyroid is restored is unnecessary.

Phosphate excess accelerates magnesium loss. Many Americans get seven times as much phosphate as calcium, which drives parathyroid hormone up and contributes to magnesium wastage. Beans, grains, nuts and meat are high-phosphate foods. Milk, fruit and green vegetables shift the ratio in the protective direction.

Drinking too much plain water in one go increases magnesium loss. A pint of water hitting the stomach produces a surge of serotonin release, which raises aldosterone and prolactin and shifts the body into a stress state where magnesium leaks out of cells. Sipping water slowly, or using mineralized fluids like fruit juice or milk, avoids this.

A low-sodium diet increases magnesium loss through aldosterone. Salt restriction is widely promoted as healthy, but it raises aldosterone production, which directly causes magnesium loss in the urine. Adequate salt intake protects magnesium.

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